Gil Thorp by Henry Barajas and Rachel Merrill for December 26, 2015

Not much fat on that Bacon – a new year and a chance to reheat all last season’s Bacon puns. Will BStatWhiz be back too?

Max better hope all-league guard Antoine Reed of Jefferson has graduated, or he’ll get schooled again.

Wow, let’s hope nose close-ups don’t replace the hand fixation.

Eh, I propose we start calling Max “Addy,” for obvious reasons …

Nice Christmas MUT Mop. Although I’m afraid that some of the people we haven’t seen lately may have disappeared to Cambodia with Jami and Keri.

Will Max and Lurch become the next Milford “it” couple?

Max might want to consume a lot more bacon so he can pack on a few more pounds.

Gil…“By the way Max….Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?”

I"m hoping Gil will bring in some transfers for the all-skinny team. Maybe the son of Manute Bol, former Sixer and Bullet. His name is Bol Bol (really) and he’s sixteen, 6’ 11" and looks like 150 pounds. He’s worth a Youtube look Gil. You need him for the next State Title.

By the way, do one of the historians know how many State Titles Gil has one in 57 years? Double figures I hope, or I’ll be dead before I see another one.

“163 pounds of fury.” In the spirit of the seasonal movie releases, I think there is a great disturbance in the force over in Goshen – mostly uproarious laughter about the 163 pounds of fury awaiting them in February when we finally get around to playing some basketball games.

Gil is all smiles. Looking forward to his preseason prognostication interview with Marjie Ducey.

When I read Gil’s comment in P1, I thought I’d inadvertently clicked on MUT. Who knew he had a sense of humor? Speaking of MUT, I’m honored to have been included in the Christmas card. Thanks, bro.

It turns out Kenzie is the local rep for Charles Atlas’ dynamic Tension body building. No more bullies kicking placeberals in Max’s face. He’ll bulk up as we up chuck

In all reality, Kenzie will reject swat Max"s drive to the hoop with a Not in my neighborhood , puny boy . Let me pump you up.

“Lifting like a madman?” What, like while wearing a business suit and smoking a cigarette?

Outside help? Is he talking about basketball strategy or the peacock?

I was torn between the previous comment and some sort of “Mad(man) Max” joke which I couldn’t quite work out. But I offer this up as an alternative name for the season in case the Bacon puns become limp.

Evidently Max has grown to about 9’9" too. His head is brushing the bottom of the backboard in panel one. And former state champ coach Gil Thorp is not known for being observant so he probably didn’t notice.

163 pounds in high school isn’t exactly small for a high school athlete in any sport really. Hell, Otto Porter of the Wizards didn’t weigh much more than that last year as a rookie.

Oh, and tcar-1. A good day for the D.C. teams Saturday with the Wizards and Caps winning and the Skins winning the division. Hasn’t happened since ’83.Redskins won the Super Bowl that year. Coincidence?